Applying to join this forum, you HAVE to activate your membership in YOUR email in the notice you recieve after completing application process. No activation on your part, no membership.

Lapidaryforum.net

Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Advanced search  

News:

Welcome new members & old from the Lapidary/Gemstone Community Forum. Please join up. You will be approved after spam check & you must manually activate your acct with the link in your email

Congratulations to Bobby1 and his Brazilian Agate Cab!

 www.lapidaryforum.net

Another cabochon contest coming soon!

Pages: [1] 2  All   Go Down

Author Topic: Long day of digging. (pics added- pic heavy)  (Read 3171 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

VegasJames

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 470
Long day of digging. (pics added- pic heavy)
« on: January 28, 2020, 09:48:32 PM »

Decided to go do some digging at a mine where I get Nevada Tiffany stone. 8 hours of digging. Does not look like much with all the dirt. Will have to photograph it when I wash it off.

 Here is some I cut in the past:

DSC_0503 by James Sloane, on Flickr

DSC_0463 by James Sloane, on Flickr

DSC_0462 by James Sloane, on Flickr
Logged

lithicbeads

  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 3214
Re: Long day of digging.
« Reply #1 on: January 29, 2020, 08:29:11 AM »

Getting out in and of itself is wonderful says the crip rockhound. Enjoy it all while you can.
Logged

VegasJames

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 470
Re: Long day of digging.
« Reply #2 on: January 29, 2020, 02:15:03 PM »

Getting out in and of itself is wonderful says the crip rockhound. Enjoy it all while you can.

I will likely be doing this a very long time. I have been in medicine for over 40 years and know more about how the body works in detail than most doctors. So I know how to maintain things like joints, tendons and ligaments and I do not take any pharmaceutical drugs, which often cause things like muscle, bone and cartilage deterioration. Even worse is the fact that the number one cause of dementia is pharmaceutical drugs. It would really suck to forget where all the great stuff is. :laughing6:
Logged

kent

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 320
    • Fine Woodwork and Lapidary
Re: Long day of digging.
« Reply #3 on: January 29, 2020, 05:12:01 PM »

I agree with Frank. Sometimes finding good rock is just icing on the cake.

Good looking stuff. I didn't know Nevada had it.

Cheers,

Kent 
Logged

hummingbirdstones

  • Opalholic and General Rock Nut
  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 3055
    • Hummingbird Stones Lapidary Services
Re: Long day of digging.
« Reply #4 on: January 29, 2020, 05:25:27 PM »

Beautiful stuff!  Lucky you to have a spot to dig tiffany.   :glasses9:
Logged
Robin

VegasJames

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 470
Re: Long day of digging.
« Reply #5 on: January 29, 2020, 11:11:14 PM »

I did a write up on Tiffany stone since some people insist that it has only been found in once place in the world, which is not true.

There are a lot of misconceptions about Tiffany stone such as what it actually is. Some people refer to it as ice cream opal even though Tiffany stone is not opal. Some people refer to it as bertrandite even though Tiffany stone is not the mineral bertrandite, which is found in many locations around the world. Tiffany stone is not a particular mineral but rather a mix of up to 16 different minerals including fluorite, quartz, calcite, dolomite, opal, chalcedony, bertrandite, etc. Each of these minerals may or not be present in a particular piece. For example bertrandite is such a rare mineral in the ore, I think it was something like .04%, that most Tiffany stone does not contain any bertrandite.

Another common misconception is that Tiffany stone only comes from one location, which is the Brush –Wellman Mine in Utah. This is a very persistent myth that I think is to keep the price artificially inflated especially since collecting at the mine is no longer allowed. About 10 years ago I saw this material retailing for $500 a pound!!! The price has dropped drastically since then I think in large part because the material from Utah has a bad reputation of often being highly friable (easy disintegrates when working with it).  So basically people were spending $500 a pound on a major gamble. Last I checked the average price was now running $25 a pound.  Tiffany stone has actually been found in three locations in Utah and there are two locations I am aware of in Nevada.

There is a similar claim about red beryl, which some also claim also only occurs in one place in Utah. Fact is that red beryl is found in two locations in Utah and also has been found in New Mexico. So again stories of being more rare are often done to artificially inflate prices.

Most of the Nevada Tiffany stone is pretty stable and the only major difference I have found in composition between the Utah and Nevada material is the fact that the Nevada material often has honey calcite and occasionally green calcite present as well as the white calcite. The Utah Tiffany stone only has white calcite.
Logged

VegasJames

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 470
Re: Long day of digging.
« Reply #6 on: January 30, 2020, 02:46:08 PM »

Got the first half of the load washed.

20200129_143915 by James Sloane, on Flickr

20200129_143934 by James Sloane, on Flickr

20200129_144004 by James Sloane, on Flickr

20200129_144137 by James Sloane, on Flickr

20200129_144142 by James Sloane, on Flickr

20200129_144217 by James Sloane, on Flickr

20200129_144309 by James Sloane, on Flickr

20200129_144609 by James Sloane, on Flickr

20200129_144843 by James Sloane, on Flickr

20200129_145015 by James Sloane, on Flickr

20200129_145424 by James Sloane, on Flickr

20200129_145649 by James Sloane, on Flickr

Logged

irockhound

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1467
    • RockhoundingUSA
Re: Long day of digging. (pics added- pic heavy)
« Reply #7 on: January 30, 2020, 09:33:12 PM »

Boy I can see Sandsave and JohnP salivating on that last pic dreaming of spheres
Logged

VegasJames

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 470
Re: Long day of digging. (pics added- pic heavy)
« Reply #8 on: January 31, 2020, 02:25:02 AM »

Boy I can see Sandsave and JohnP salivating on that last pic dreaming of spheres

Would be cool. Makes great cabs. Here are some examples:

20160520_172525-1 by James Sloane, on Flickr

DSC_04610001 by James Sloane, on Flickr

20160507_134259 by James Sloane, on Flickr

20160507_115019 by James Sloane, on Flickr

20160507_120036 by James Sloane, on Flickr

20160507_114254 by James Sloane, on Flickr

20160507_114013 by James Sloane, on Flickr

20160919_132818-1 by James Sloane, on Flickr

20160919_132806-1 by James Sloane, on Flickr

20160919_132750-1 by James Sloane, on Flickr
Logged

Michael

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 132
Re: Long day of digging. (pics added- pic heavy)
« Reply #9 on: February 05, 2020, 11:39:16 AM »

I think your cabs and rough are really much more interesting and unique than the Utah Tiffany, which is almost like working with Larimar.  Great pictures, James!!!
Logged

VegasJames

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 470
Re: Long day of digging. (pics added- pic heavy)
« Reply #10 on: February 05, 2020, 02:41:08 PM »

I think your cabs and rough are really much more interesting and unique than the Utah Tiffany, which is almost like working with Larimar.  Great pictures, James!!!
Logged

Ryaly2dogs

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 671
Re: Long day of digging. (pics added- pic heavy)
« Reply #11 on: February 07, 2020, 09:00:08 AM »

Nice haul of Tiffany stone!  Thanks also for the very informative post of its occurrence and the myth of scarcity around it.  I think the honey onyx feature renders it very beautiful in both rough and cab form.  Do you sell this material and and at what price per pound?  The last photo was droolworthy for sure. 
Logged

VegasJames

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 470
Re: Long day of digging. (pics added- pic heavy)
« Reply #12 on: February 07, 2020, 09:41:53 AM »

Thanks. Yes I have sold some of the material in the past. he cheapest I have seen online is $25/lb so I have been selling my material cheaper at $15/lb plus shipping costs. 

There is a trick to polishing since Tiffany is a conglomeration of different minerals hardness can vary throughout. So once the cab is finished on the last wheel I buff the material with a little Zam, which not only creates a nice polish but also helps to seal the stone. Some of the material though is high silica and does not need this. For the material with higher levels of calcites the Zan works great.
Logged

Sandsave

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1041
Re: Long day of digging. (pics added- pic heavy)
« Reply #13 on: February 22, 2020, 06:14:28 AM »

I'm in for a one for one sphere deal! I've finished Tiffany that was hard as the back of your head and then some that needed to be stabilized and a lot in between. PM me if you're interested I'll be playing golf the first week of March in mesquite, We could meet and save shipping one way.
Logged

ileney

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 639
Re: Long day of digging. (pics added- pic heavy)
« Reply #14 on: February 22, 2020, 07:49:03 PM »

Those are lovely stones! Congratulations on these great finds.
Logged
Pages: [1] 2  All   Go Up
 

Page created in 0.116 seconds with 51 queries.